Benchmade wants people to think of auto knives as good EDC knives, but they’re working against the perception of some that auto knives are…scary. Intimidating. Dangerous even.

In an effort to change that, they’re trying to make their 4300 CLA (composite light auto) knife look…friendlier. To do that, they’ve made a version with ivory-colored G10 scales.

They’ve upgraded the blade steel from the standard 154CM to CPM MagnaCut and given the blade an attractive blackwash DLC finish.

The FDE deep carry clip probably looks less intimidating, too. The standard 4300 CLA runs about $240. This friendlier upgraded version is about $400 retail.

The star of Benchmade’s SHOT Show may have been the introduction of the new 748 Narrows. It’s the first titanium knife from Benchmade in quite some time and its blue hardware and standoffs really set the Narrows off nicely.

The 748 Narrows folder is super-slim (a hair over a quarter-inch thick), features a 3.43″ M390 blade, and weighs in at a mere 2.41 oz.

That makes the knife ultra pocketable and easy to carry. The only problem will be getting up enough scratch to put one in your pocket. The 748 Narrows will retail for about $520.

Maybe some day.

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45 COMMENTS

  1. Cannot find my Kershaw Ken Onion Blur. So, I just picked up a Milwaukee folder with a D2, 3-inch steel blade. $64.

    Flips open smoothly by using my index finger to pull the lever-switch at the top of the knife casing.. Comfortable to hold, and cuts things that need cutting.

    Purchased another Milwaukee with a 4-inch blade for my tool bag. That one does not flip open completely. Kick the thumb-knob on the blade, flick with the wrist and you get a folder at a 90 degree angle. Then again, I only paid $29 for that one.

    Still searching for that Kershaw. It is here, somewhere. I know it is. I have not looked in the last place….yet. That is where most lost thing are.found….in the last place you look.

    • I got a Blackout one Christmas when I was a teenager, bought a Blur when I got a little older, and picked up a Leek a few years ago. The Blackout still lives in my glovebox, the Blur on my office desk, and the Leek in my pocket. They’ve all been reliable, easy to use, and affordable.

  2. I second the “maybe some day” comment. I could probably come up with the money, but I would always be afraid of losing such a precious object.
    So I stick with Kershaws which are cheap and reliable for a few years before I have to spend $30 to get another when one gets misplaces or the safe opening feature fails. No they are not the hardest steel (I have a Buck that is so hard it is very difficult to sharpen), but they take a good edge. The greatest weakness of the Kershaw (aside from the Chinese steel) is the screws holding the pocket clip invariably loosen, and I cannot find the right sized tool to tighten them.

    • “So I stick with Kershaws which are cheap and reliable for a few years before I have to spend $30 to get another when one gets misplaces or the safe opening feature fails.”

      I’m with you. I’m tired of losing good (but expensive) knifes, so now my EDC is a Wal-Mart $20 Gerber Paraframe. The blade is on the soft side, but sharpens easily, and I won’t be in a pissy mood if I lose it…

      https://www.amazon.com/Gerber-Paraframe-Knife-Stainless-22-48444/dp/B000JJJ2UG

  3. Still looking for an original Gerber mark 2 that I can afford. Always preferred it to the Randall #1. I don’t like the new ones with the saw blade. Closest I can find is the Cols Steel Wasp Waist.

  4. For a folder it’s the locking mechanism I am concerned about and a partial serrated blade for seatbelts. Sometimes I carry a La Griffe which requires grinding in a crescent on each side of the sheath otherwise chances are good a newbee will cut themselves during the draw.

  6. I have to agree the $500 price tag is a bit much for the 748, for a Benchmade. It’s not bad for a Hinderer or a CR. But this is NOT that kind of knife. I have an M390 version of their bugout and I love it. I replaced that deep carry clip with a normal one that actually allows you to access it from your pocket. I never cared for the bugouts or Benchmade in general, but I saw that M390 Bugout with the Titanium scales and pulled the trigger. Glad I did. That said, it’s honestly one of the only Bugouts I ever cared for. I tested the normal Bugouts and they felt like a cheap $60 knife. Not that there is anything wrong with a cheap $60 knife either. I have a Kershaw Ferrite I just bought for $45 and I love it. But on the scale of knives – this Benchmade is NOT a $500 knife. It’s more like a $200-250 M390 variant of the bugout. If the price drops I may pull the trigger on the 748 in M390 as well. I’ve grown very fond of M390. However, I will never grow fond of deep carry clips or any other color than black clips – but I could live with a very nice clip in this blue-ish color or a flat sort of sandwashed color if they were the right kind. These pockets clips are neither of those.

    My couple must haves for knives:
    Non deep clip carry
    Not a black blade (made an exception with that M390 Bugout and a Microtech)
    Flipper

    I can compromise sometimes, but for an EDC knife, I can’t. Anything that I compromise on usually sits on the shelf more than it does in my pocket lol.

    The current daily has been for a while, the ZT Hinderer Glow CF. It just fit the bill for everything. Cost, Size, Clip, Color. 20CV is not my favorite steel, but it’s easy to sharpen at least.

    • well.
      20cv is the virtual equivalent of m390 (identical composition, 20cv is a cpm product. m390 is from bohler. they are both powdered alloys) not to be cornfused with (spydie’s) k390, they are different.
      between those two steels the heat treat and hardness will make the difference.

  8. My EDC has been a Presidio for a bit over a decade now. I have a lot of Benchmades including a few gold box knives but won’t give them a dime now,have only bought used ones on eBay since they chopped up guns for LE.Great knives but they won’t see anymore of my cash.

  9. Like everyone else I always wanted switchblade and after owning 3 different makes I came to the conclusion that the assisted folder is far safer to carry and just as fast to deploy safely.

    Switchblades with safeties are often made to work backwards which inhibits their deployment. In other words instead of being able to push the safety forward you have to draw it backward which is not a plus in quickly deploying it.

    Many switchblade safeties are so poorly designed or shoddily made that they often fall off into the deploy position and the blade ends up popping out in your pocket, not a good thing.

    Switchblades with no safety often go off in your pocket and you stab your hand trying to get it out of your pocket, again not a good thing.

    The assisted folder is far less likely to deploy accidentally and I might add I have had the spring break way less often because they do not operate with the same violent action as most switchblades do. Spring breakage in Switchblades is very common, again not a good thing when you need one to defend yourself with.

    And lastly unless you are a psycho assassin bringing a knife to a gun fight is not conducive to a long and healthful life so why would you ever rely on a knife for defense weapon when it puts you on the receiving end of the barrel of a gun.

    Trying to be a self-anointed Crocodile Dundee may be glamorous in the movies but in real life using a knife for self defense, either a fixed blade or switchblade, is almost always a very bad idea. If Roman stormtroopers were alive today they would not be using the gladius sword or folding pocket knives anymore and so should you.

    • Shut. The. Fuck. Up.

      Man, you are a fucken loser.

      You are such a zealot you even believe “switchblades” are dangerous? Do you even know what a fucken switchblade is, because judging by the comment, you don’t.

      Get a life, loser. Seriously. This has to be the most pathetic shit I’ve EVER seen from you, and that is saying a lot. You really have a mental deficiency to come here and constantly advocate this type of shit.

      • How about we meet up in Missoula and I’ll buy you a beer. That made me laugh. I need a short road trip anyway.

    • The one thing I forgot to mention was the position of the pocket clip. Notice that when you carry this knife it is blade up in the pocket. This is both good and bad.

      The bad thing is that if the knife comes open accidentally you are going to stab yourself trying to get the knife out of the pocket.

      The good thing is that when you do withdraw this knife, (assuming the blade is still in the handle) you do not have to rotate the knife 90 degrees to deploy the blade (so it is pointing away from you) and take your eyes off of the threat to find the deployment button. If the pocket clip is at the wrong end of the knife handle this would happen and a lot of switch blades have the pocket clip on the wrong end of the handle, but not this knife.

    • @dacian

      “Like everyone else I always wanted switchblade and after owning 3 different makes I came to the conclusion that the assisted folder is far safer to carry and just as fast to deploy safely.”

      You liar. This is a direct copy-n-paste, as are other things in your post, from the internet. I know that because I know who the person is who originally wrote it and you are not them.

      Maybe you should practice safely deploying that anti-psychotic medication you were prescribed.

      • to Booger Brain

        Psychologically you are a very weak person. Everything I post that you are uneducated about becomes to you a copy and past. I find your rebuttals both hilarious and pathetic.

        Besides firearms my other hobby is collecting all kinds of knives. I have probably forgotten more facts about edged weapons than you will ever know.

        • I love it when people criticize others and their “education” while making simple grade school grammatical errors. Really drives your point through. Dumbass.

        • @dacian

          stop copy-n-posting the works of others trying to pretend its your original thoughts and knowledge and stop with your lies. Its so very obvious.

    • Maybe I’m just rich and my switchblades are better, but the ones I own are FAR less likely to accidentally open than the assisted openers that I have.

      I have one that works like the Benchmade Presidio, where you have to pull down a pin for the blade to swing. No chance that is happening in my pocket. The Microtech that I have takes a real strong thumb to actuate and also nothing happens in my pocket that would trigger that.

      Assisted openers, and especially the kind with the flipper paddles, are much more likely to be bumped in my pockets and partially open/rip my pocket.

      Maybe you’re just buying the wrong knives. Or you’re doing something in your pockets that you probably shouldn’t be doing.

  10. Can someone help explain why a stupid little knife is $500?!???? Is it unbreakable? Does it never go dull? Is it made out of ceramic? What will that do my $80 rail road tie knife won’t? I feel even if it is super nice $500 is just idiotic like Oakley’s or Nikes.

    • I think it’s just a pride of ownership, collection thing. Ask people what they actually use their knives for and they usually say they open boxes with it. I have a cheapo box cutter for that. I’m willing to spend a couple hundred on some comfortable and functional glasses that I wear just about everyday. Cheap sunglasses are a waste of money for me.

    • “Is it unbreakable? Does it never go dull? Is it made out of ceramic?”

      Drop a ceramic blade on concrete and watch it shatter…

  11. Wayyyyy over priced. Plus the ‘ivory-colored’ makes it look like one of those low quality impulse buy junk items you see advertised for ‘four easy payments of …” on late night TV infomercials or in a convenience store.

    EDC does not stand for ‘Extremely Dumb Consumer’.

    • EDC posts from insta whores says otherwise lol.

      They will sell it too. And clout chasers will brag about it.

      But I agree. This is a $200 at best knife.

      All of their products are overpriced.

  12. Whatever… That is a little much for a darn pocket knife. There are firearms that cost less…. Once again, what part of ‘recession don’t these people understand. We struggle to put food on the table and we get 500 dollar pocket knives ???? Sorry. But geez.

    • I got nothing against expensive things but I have to be able to see where that money’s going and what I’m paying for in a product. Otherwise it’s like another Daniel Defense, $2300 for a rifle that cost $1300 by everyone else.

  14. autos are fidgety fun, the novelty wears off.
    assisted knives are a less expensive route to a properly designed flipper. with precision pivots and a very precise (difficult to manufacture inexpesively) detent a good folder will deploy completely. cheaper or incorrectly adjusted screws require a wrist flick.
    a good example is the gerber fastball. it’s tuned so when the detent is overcome it opens completely. no spring.

    • In Florida, auto-openers are legal if you have a carry permit…

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